Former Irish international Jason McAteer has criticised his once team-mate Roy Keane for his comments towards Jon Walters last week.
Keane labelled Walters a "bluffer" during his appearance at the Off The Ball roadshow event in Dublin. The pair worked together at Ireland and Ipswich and Keane was particularly critical of his punditry work: "does the circuit, goes on the TV. How harsh he was treated by me, he'sj crying on the TV, family situation, he's the only one whose... do me a favour."
The reference to Walters' family situation came after he opened on the passing of his mother and brother, his wife's miscarriage and his daughter being diagnosed with scoliosis in a TV interview earlier this year.
Keane also had some veiled criticism of McAteer during the show. When asked about Walters' goal for Ireland to ensure qualification, the former Man United midfielder responded: "How long is he going to live off that? A certain player scored against Holland and he still is!"
Speaking on TalkSport, McAteer said Keane let himself down with his comments.
We all know Roy, he says what he wants and that’s why he’s box office because he says it how he thinks. It’s very watchable at times, but unfortunately I do feel he lets himself down with the comments he makes about other players and I was disappointed that Roy come out and said some of the things he did.
Jonny is a brilliant guy and he’s an advocate for mental health. He’s gone on telly and put himself out on a limb because he feels it’s going to help people, and it is.
We need to create more awareness of mental health these days and what people go through, certainly elite sportspeople because it’s a very demanding environment and unfortunately when you come out of it it leaves you with problems sometimes.
He went on to add that he felt Keane got carried away in the setting.
"Jonny feels the need to come out and help people, which is fantastic, you take your hat off to him for that. So for Roy to bring him down and suggest he needs to stop crying on the telly, it was a poor comment.
“I think he got wrapped up in the environment, everyone was laughing, there was a lot of people in the audience and he maybe got a little bit too comfortable with his comments and he let himself down."
Keane and McAteer have notoriously endured a rocky relationship clashing on the field and trading criticism in their respective autobiographies. While McAteer might not have as many accolades as the Corkman, he suggested that did not bother him.
"Roy does like the medals one, but at the end of the day you can’t take the medals down the pub and have a pint with them. They don’t talk back to you.
"I’d rather have a couple of mates than a couple of medals, to be honest."
